In the Serpent's Lair
by Indyctator
Summary: If he had to describe her, "strange" would be the most accurate word. When Tom had done his best to integrate into this whole new society, Lyra Mathews had preferred to remain in the shadows. But maybe it would be interesting to befriend the strange girl. [Icon credit: タキon Pixiv]


**Nagini **

Lyra Mathews.

If he had to describe her, "strange" would be the most accurate word. When Tom had arrived at Hogwarts, he had immediately done his best to integrate into this whole new society, determined to make the others believe he had always lived as a wizard. In a couple of months, he had absorbed as much magical knowledge as he could and had quickly gained his classmates' trust, already considered the "Head of the first-year Slytherins".

Lyra Mathews was the exact opposite. She had made no attempt to reach to others, apparently content to lurk in the shadows with her pet snake as her sole company. Tom would have simply ignored her if it wasn't for the fact the girl was particularly bright. She would never raise her hand to answer teachers' questions during classes but although Tom was the smartest student in their year, Lyra was closely following him. Tom had made no serious attempt to talk to her, deeming it vain, but he had nonetheless kept an eye on her and had witnessed how she had become the favourite target of the Slytherin girls.

Tom let out an annoyed sigh. He had been sitting by a tree near the lake when he had noticed on the shore the Slytherin gang surrounding Lyra. The girls wore an expression of utter arrogance while Lyra wasn't even looking at them, her face slightly pale.

"You're not that confident without your disgusting reptile, are you, Mathews?" smirked Riza Parkinson, leader of the bullies.

Lyra's sudden distress picked Tom's interest. Usually, her snake would hiss at the girls, allowing Lyra to get away with a snicker. However this time, the snake wasn't perched on Lyra's shoulder, ready to defend his mistress. With a frown, Tom followed her gaze and saw why Lyra was so helpless. Floating right above the middle of the lake were what appeared to be Lyra's wand and her snake. The animal was wriggling in distress and Tom cringed. Long ago, he had discovered he possessed the gift of talking to snakes and right now, he could hear the snake crying for help. Tom stood up to intervene but it was too late.

"Want to take a swim?" Riza chuckled and with a flicker of her wand, let the snake and Lyra's wand drop in the dark water.

In the blink of an eye, Lyra turned toward the bully and punched her to the ground. She quickly got rid of her cloak and her shoes and hurried into the water. Students who had gathered to witness the course of events were now observing Lyra advancing in the water. Tom was the only one to react.

"Mathews! Come back right now!" he ran to the edge of the lake.

Lyra ignored him and started swimming as the water reached her chest. Tom clenched his fists. He could see the snake swimming toward his mistress with difficulties but she was still too far away and she wouldn't be able to find her wand by simply diving underwater. Frustrated, Tom closed his eyes and tried to focus. He shut out the noise surrounding him and dug into his memory, looking for a useful spell. His eyes snapped open.

"This should work" he whispered before lifting his wand. "Accio wand!"

After a moment of apprehension, he watched with satisfaction the object shooting out of the water and flying his way. He caught the wand then turned his attention back to Lyra who had stopped.

"Come back, Mathews!" he shouted, showing her the wand. "I got it!"

She hesitated for a second, turned to see her snake was almost on her then headed back to the shore. Tom froze as the girl suddenly stopped. Even from this distance, he could see Lyra's face had turned deathly pale. With horror, he saw her getting yanked underwater before reappearing in the air, dangling at the end of a monstrous tentacle.

The giant squid! How could he have forgotten?!

Without thinking, Tom ran into the lake, brandishing the two wands and casting every single spell he knew on the tentacle holding Lyra. After harassing it for a long agonizing minute, Tom saw the beast finally letting go of Lyra who painfully splashed into the water. She emerged seconds later, coughing and struggling to keep her head out of the water. Tom, who was now close to her, just had time to smile before ten tentacles jerked of water and dived on him. One of them grabbed him and roughly lifted him. A searing pain in the ribs briefly blinded Tom who let go of the wands. He saw a slender and dark figure shot past him, heard a hissing "Thanks" then fell unconscious after he saw someone aiming a wand at him.

* * *

"You should stay in bed!"

"I'm fine! It's nothing serious."

"_Nothing serious?!_"

"Shut up, you'll wake him!"

Tom slowly opened his eyes and waited for his vision to be clear. He was lying on a bed, he supposed at the hospital wing, and two people were sitting next to him: a worn out Lyra and the Slytherin Head Prefect who were both looking truly worried.

"Are you okay, kid?" asked the Prefect.

"I think so" Tom mumbled, too exhausted to resent the use of 'kid'. "What happened?"

"The giant squid didn't go easy on you" smiled the older boy. "I arrived just in time to save you."

"Thanks" said Tom before turning to Lyra who was silent. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" she answered with a faint smile. "Nothing serious to worry about."

"Nothing serious?" repeated the Prefect. "Your leg was crushed, your ribs broken and you almost drowned!"

"And it's all healed now!" she snapped. She spoke to Tom in a more gentle voice. "I'm sorry you had to go through this because of me. If I had known that spell you used, I could have gotten my wand back by myself…"

"It's nothing" said Tom, mentally taking note that the girl now owed him. "Where's your snake? Is it alright?"

"Nagini is… She was… Gray arrived a bit too late…"

A veil of sadness covered her green eyes. Tom felt a slight twinge at the heart. Somehow the death of the snake affected him. He was aware the animal had died in a state of distress and it upset him.

"I am sorry" he whispered. "I thought it was safe since it was so close to you… I know you treasured it."

"It was a gift from Gray" she nodded.

"I'll get you another one if you want" said the Prefect.

"What?" Tom's eyes widened.

"Another one" the Prefect complained. "Another one who doesn't know my name and who just call me 'Head Prefect'! My name is Grayson _Mathews_, older brother of this lovely viper."

Lyra glared at him while Tom stared at the siblings. Now that he was looking closely at them, he could see the clear resemblance. They had similar delicate features, raven hair and bright green eyes.

"I had never really thought about it" Tom mused. "But now that I see you standing next to each other, there's no question about your kinship."

At Tom's remark, both siblings smiled and the boy marveled at Lyra's smile being the exact replica of her brother's. Tom swore to himself to be much more observant of his surroundings from now on. He had thought he had successfully made a name for himself among the first years but he now felt it wasn't enough. He had to aim higher, much higher.

The nurse popped up at that moment and immediately sent Lyra back to bed, storming about the girl's irresponsible behaviour. Tom watched her climbing into bed reluctantly then felt Gray's staring at him. He arched an eyebrow, curious.

"I hope you're not mad with her" finally said the Prefect. "She really cared about Nagini and couldn't help going in the lake."

"I know. She had no friends but that snake."

"Right" Gray smiled. "I told her that her behaviour would get her in trouble. But she never listens."

"What happened to the snake?" Tom asked, now that Lyra wasn't here. "I'm sure it was safe the last time I saw it."

"Nagini attacked the tentacle which was holding you" Gray confessed. "It's thanks to her that the tentacle let go and I managed to catch you. But she was taken away by the squid."

Tom stared at the Prefect in disbelief. That was what he had seen before fainting. He hadn't imagined the hissing. The snake had deliberately rescued him when it has seen Tom had come to help its mistress. What a faithful animal, thought Tom, amazed.

"Lyra must hate me" he suddenly realized.

"She doesn't" Gray assured him. "Don't ask me why but she blindly trusted that snake. They had some kind of connection. If Nagini judged you worthy enough to be saved, Lyra will only have a high opinion of you."

Gray smiled warmly at him before bidding him goodnight and leaving. Lost in his thoughts, Tom watched the Prefect go to his sister and tucked her in bed. Now that he thought about it, maybe this was the chance to get closer to Lyra. Maybe it'd be interesting to befriend the strange girl.

**_Note:_**

_I suddenly decided to rework on an old fic and here is the first chapter! _

_To explain a few things: _

_- I'm going to write one (maybe two) chapter(s) for every year they spend at Hogwarts ^^ so it's not going to be a particularly long fic._

_- I'm aware that Tom will be slightly OOC here but I'll do my best not to write total rubbish. And yes there's an OC but I hope you'll give her a chance! I can already tell you that they won't end up all lovey dovey x)_

_Thanks for taking time to read this! Have a nice day! :)_


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